


Disjointed

by Ha_neul



Series: Silver Rings [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-18
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-06-02 23:50:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6588322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ha_neul/pseuds/Ha_neul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Returning to Tatooine to erase his past, Vader reunites with his old lover and their son.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Disjointed

**Author's Note:**

> AKA the au where padmé and obi-wan and anakin were all married to each other and happy but palpatine still ended up fucking shit up.

He’s tending to the boy’s injuries when everything falls apart.

-

It was supposed to be another quiet night, surrounded by the dead of the desert and the hum of the wind. Yet instead, the dull pulse of the Force that Obi-Wan so desperately wishes to forget, pulls at his mind. 

The boy is in trouble and he refuses to let carefully spent years of watching from a distance in agonizing isolation to go to waste - not when this was all he had left to protect.

Obi-Wan ignores the painful ache of the other empty hole in his heart in favor of focusing on the task at hand: dispelling the Hutt's minions crowded around the defenseless boy.

Drought had brought even more turmoil and unrest to the inhabitants of Tatooine; Jabba had raised the water tax he'd imposed on the poor, who could barely sustain themselves. Now, the henchmen targeted the boy's aunt and uncle.

“Move out of the way, kid, this water belongs to Jabba.” 

The boy puffs out his chest in an attempt to appear as menacing as is possible for an eight year old and, raising his voice, states defiantly, "It belongs to the farmers!"

In the shadows, Obi-Wan covers his mouth to stifle a chuckle. _So much like his father_ , he thinks, but before his thoughts can wander any further, one of the men pulls out a blaster, leveling it at the boy.

“Listen here you little-”

Restrained but precise, Obi-Wan flicks his wrist and the thug goes flying. The boy is knocked down by another man and Obi-Wan leaves no opening for another blow as he disposes of the second thug quickly. 

The rest panic and shout in confusion. “Who’s there!?” A man shouts before being thrown brutally into the craft he had been driving moments ago. 

Obi-Wan wouldn't admit later that being able to manipulate the Force fills him with adrenaline once more. He feels a rush he hasn't felt for years and all too soon the scuffle is over.

Running over to the boy unconscious on the ground, a quick glance shows that he is unharmed. It is only after Obi-Wan lifts him and carefully probes at his head that a curse flies from the protector's mouth - his hand coming away damp with blood.

His original plans to deliver the boy to his aunt and uncle become moot. He has no choice but to retreat to his own hut. Maybe if the boy hadn't been his, Obi-Wan would have had no issue leaving the injury to heal by itself.

But this isn't just another boy. It’s Luke.

Carefully, Obi-Wan adjusts Luke in his arms so that he lies comfortably, wanting to avoid any further harm to the child. The short walk back to his hut is spent in silence. He feels warmth where Luke’s soft breaths hit his shoulder, and when he looks down at the child’s face, he can’t help but almost freeze in place. 

He’s tried so hard to forget them, to let go of the memories that haunt him every hour. Memories of Anakin’s constant hovering over Padmé when she was pregnant and Obi-Wan’s constant reminders that _‘Yes, she’s fine, and the child will be fine. Padmé standing up for a few minutes isn’t going to hurt anyone.’_

Most of all he missed Padmé’s amusement at these situations, laughing softly as she wound all their arms together while giving them each the brightest smile. 

_The brightest smile in the galaxy,_ Obi-Wan always thought, and he knew that Anakin thought the same. He misses their shared company and the domesticity of it all, how the Code didn't matter because they were happy - why should it have?

However, that was before, and Obi-Wan knows all of that is over. Those days will never return and neither will Padmé. Anakin is lost forever and now all that he has left of them both is the weight of the child he carries in his arms. 

A child that is barely even his anymore. It would've been too dangerous to raise the child as his own and Owen's words ring in his mind, blaringly true. 

_Haven’t you murdered enough Skywalkers already, Kenobi?_

Should he have died with the rest of the Jedi? Was his influence so great that he was to blame for the events that had occurred of the past? He feels as dangerous as Owen believes him to be, but danger had always followed him. It has been around since he was nothing but a padawan, taking his first steps into the universe. Danger hid itself when he met Padmé, when Anakin was still a child, when all of them were still so young. 

Finally, he reaches the Dune Sea and is glad for a distraction from his thoughts. The secluded home is nothing much, but it holds enough. Obi-Wan lays the child down comfortably on top of his bed while he fetches the supplies he needs.

Tenderly, he brings a damp cloth to Luke’s head to clean away the blood and apply bacta salve to the small cut. He will wait till the morning to assess that the boy is truly fine. 

Mentally preparing himself for the verbal lashing Owen is likely to give him, Obi-Wan quietly tidies up. 

-

Tatooine is the one place that Vader never expected to return to.

No one, not even Sidious himself, has been informed of Vader’s location or of his intentions, not that they needed to. He does not intend this personal visit to be a long one.

The night provides an atmosphere befitting of the Sith Lord as he exits his personal craft. The pulses of the Force he had felt minutes ago are gone, but he immediately knows that there is something else here.

He had originally come here to investigate his mother’s old home, and to dispose of memories that still haunted him, but the presence he feels proves far interesting and instead, he finds himself following it on foot past the Lars home and deeper into the Jundland Wastes.

Vader knows who is beyond the sea before he even reaches the hut in the distance.

The presence he’s been searching for desperately in the past years is close, the one that Sidious himself specifically ordered him to not seek out.

The Force signature he feels is unmistakable: his former master is here and undoubtedly weak.

_You couldn't hide from me for long, Obi-Wan._

-

Obi-Wan senses the man before he sees him. The air is heavy around him and he knows he is backed into a corner with no escape. He glances at the boy and knows that it’s too late. _Anyone_ he thinks. _Let it be anyone, but him._

“I’ve been looking for you.”

Obi-Wan turns around to face the intruder at the door and all his suspicions are confirmed. He is met with durasteel and darkness, cold metal and moonlight. 

It is quiet save for the dull sound of Vader’s breathing.

Vader has yet to ignite his lightsaber, “It was a wise choice to retreat to a place you knew I would never return.” 

“Yet here you stand.” Obi-Wan returns sharply. The anxiety is undetectable from his voice, but it is still all that consumes his body. His saber is tucked away at his side and, unsure of Vader's true intentions, he makes no move to attack.

“You did poorly to hide your existence on this planet.” Vader states. 

Obi-Wan looks at the masked figure. He feels like he’s talking to a statue. Vader’s voice is flat and without expression. His stance is solid and Obi-Wan imagines his armor must weigh a ton. 

It’s then that Vader finally takes the first steps further into the home that Obi-Wan decides enough is enough. He ignites his saber while Vader does the same, the clash of blue and red exploding together illuminate the small home.

 _This isn’t good._ Obi-Wan thinks. Luke is still in the home and fighting here puts him at a disadvantage. The enclosed space leaves little room for him to deflect Vader’s harsh blows and each strike feels like a heavy hammer with the amount of raw strength Vader harnesses with his saber.

“Do you truly wish to kill me?” Obi-Wan manages to say as he defends himself from another swing of Vader’s saber.

Vader's only response is to continue at his brutal pace, pushing Obi-Wan's limits. He can’t win, Obi-Wan knows this already: Vader’s strength is inhuman and his powers are weakened from the years he has spent in exile.

“I am here to only to do what needs to be done.” Vader replies as he finds an opening in Obi-Wan’s defenses and quickly disarms him. 

The blue saber is knocked out of his hand, and red fills the room. 

“Who is the child?” Vader asks, holding his red saber at Obi-Wan's throat, mask tilting ever so slightly to gesture at Luke who lies still asleep.

Not sure what answer is the one Vader is looking for, Obi-Wan goes for the truth.

“Hers. Ours," he grinds out, his gaze meeting Vader's through the mask.

“You are in no position to be playing games with me, Kenobi.” 

Obi-Wan’s silence confirms everything. He’s not lying and Vader realizes now that the Force presence he felt was not Obi-Wan’s but this boy’s. 

“...How?” Vader manages to choke out, confused and stunned. His saber is still held out, but lowered slightly. “He told me,” Vader pauses, recalling painful memories that he, like Obi-Wan, has tried to block out for years. “He told me Padmé had died.”

“She did.” Obi-Wan confirms and nods his head towards Luke, “He didn’t.”

Vader de-activates his saber without another word, but when Obi-Wan tries to get up he points the saber once more at his face. “We are not through. Move and you die.”

Obi-Wan sighs at the Sith Lord’s dramatics and lets himself settle back into his uncomfortable position on the floor.

When Vader walks over to where Luke lies, a protest rises from the older man's throat, only to fall away when a gloved hand rises only to softly stroke the child’s head. 

“He was injured.” Vader says, “How?” 

“Jabba’s men.” 

Vader lets out a sound that Obi-Wan interprets as disgust, “He lives with you?” 

Obi-Wan shakes his head, “No, with his aunt and uncle.” He can’t believe he’s having a civil conversation right now with _Darth Vader_ of all people. “Anything else you want to know while we’re at it? He’s eight, an excellent flier, and strong in the Force.” When he notices Vader isn’t going to say anything he goes on, “He’s...terribly stubborn, but he's kind. Just like his mother-”

“What is his name?” 

Vader’s hand hasn’t moved from it’s place on Luke’s head but he’s staring intently at Obi-Wan now.

Closing his eyes, Obi-Wan runs a hand down his own face, “...Luke. Luke Skywalker. She chose it.”

“Luke.” Vader echoes. “And she...Padmé…” He removes his hand and clenches it tight in a fist. Obi-Wan can feel the power emanating from Vader but he says nothing.

“He lied to me.” Vader grinds out. “The Emperor will not be so easily forgiven.” 

Turning on Obi-Wan, his cape swaying behind him, Vader holds out hand to the man on the ground. “You have nowhere else to run. Join me and we will kill him together.” 

“Are you offering...an alliance?” Obi-Wan asks in disbelief. 

“No,” Vader says immediately, “I am taking my son back with me whether or not you come along.” 

_He’s my son, too._ Obi-Wan mentally adds but doesn’t say out loud.

“The Emperor will die by my hand for deceiving me. I will admit, however, that my power has its restrictions. What little help you have to offer could be crucial.”

Obi-Wan mulls this over carefully and stares at the offered hand still, “And afterwards? After the Emperor is dead?” 

“Maybe I will kill you, maybe I won't. It doesn’t matter, you will not stop me from being further separated from my son-”

“Our son.” Obi-Wan corrects finally. “Or have you decided to conveniently forget that too?”

"I am not ignorant. I am very aware of this boy's background," Vader states sharply, gesturing with the hand he still holds out. "Obi-Wan. I am offering you a chance at whatever semblance of peace we can have between us for now. Surely you remember that the Force is what dictates our future after all?"

Vader is right, and taking one final look at Luke, Obi-Wan takes the outstretched gloved hand in his own and allows the Sith Lord to help him to his feet, finding himself face to face with, for the first time in what feels like a lifetime, the man that once meant the world to him.

**Author's Note:**

> credit to the twitter crew for beta-ing this! (u kno who u r ;* )  
> & ofc credit to myself for the artwork 
> 
> this is just a one-shot in a series of one-shots i plan to write so let me know if y'all are interested in more!! u can catch me at octavigustus.tumblr.com


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